Inspiring Christian missionaries Early life David Brainerd
David Brainerd | Hero Of Faith, was born on April 20, 1718, in Haddam, Connecticut, to Hezekiah Brainerd, a legislator from Connecticut, and Dorothy Hobart. He had nine siblings, with one of them being from Dorothy’s prior marriage. At the age of nine, he became an orphan, as his father passed away in 1727 at the age of 46, followed by his mother’s death five years later. Following his mother’s passing, Brainerd went to live with one of his older sisters, Jerusha, in East Haddam. Inspiring Christian missionaries When he was nineteen, he inherited a farm located near Durham, but he returned to East Haddam a year later to get ready for attending Yale. On July 12, 1739, he documented an experience of “unspeakable glory” that ignited within him a “hearty desire to exalt [God], to place him on the throne, and to ‘seek first his Kingdom.'” This incident has been viewed by evangelical scholars as a conversion experience.
David Brainerd Preparing for ministry
David Brainerd After two months, he started attending Yale University. During his second year there, he was sent home due to a severe illness, tuberculosis, which caused him to cough up blood. Upon his return in November 1740, tensions began to rise at Yale as the faculty felt the students’ spiritual enthusiasm, fueled by visiting preachers like George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, Ebenezer Pemberton, and James Davenport, was too extreme. Brainerd was expelled for his remarks about the ungodly faculty. David Brainerd | Hero Of Faith A new law prevented the appointment of ministers in Connecticut unless they were graduates of Harvard, Yale, or a European institution, prompting Brainerd to rethink his future plans. In 1742, Brainerd received a license to preach from a group of evangelicals known as New Lights. This led to Jonathan Dickinson, the foremost Presbyterian in New Jersey, taking notice of him and attempting, though unsuccessfully, to have Brainerd reinstated at Yale. Instead, Dickinson recommended that Brainerd focus on missionary efforts among Native Americans, with support from the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. He received approval for this missionary work on November 25, 1742. David Brainerd | Hero Of Faith.
Inspiring Christian missionaries Entering mission
David Brainerd | Hero Of Faith, On April 1, 1743, after a short period serving a church on Long Island, Brainerd began his work as a missionary among Native Americans, which he continued until late 1746, when he fell seriously ill. In his later years, he also faced struggles with depression, feelings of loneliness, and inadequate food. His initial assignment as a missionary was at Kaunameek, a Mohican community near what is now Nassau, New York, where he stayed for one year. In 1743, he was transferred to work with the Delaware Indians along the Delaware River, northeast of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, remaining there for another year, during which time he was ordained by the Newark Presbytery. Following this, he relocated to Crosswicks in New Jersey. Within a year, the Native American congregation at David Brainerd Crossweeksung grew to 130 members, who migrated to Cranbury in 1746 to create a Christian community. During these years, he turned down multiple opportunities to leave the missionary field and become a church minister. David Brainerd | Hero Of Faith He persisted in his efforts to convert Native Americans, writing in his diary that he found no peace in considering any other pursuits in life: “All my desire was the conversion of the heathen, and all my hope was in God. David Brainerd God does not permit me to find pleasure or solace in thoughts of seeing friends, returning to my dear acquaintances, and enjoying worldly comforts.”
David Brainerd Death
David Brainerd In November 1746, he became too sick to continue his ministerial duties, prompting him to relocate to Jonathan Dickinson’s residence in Elizabethtown and subsequently to Jonathan Edwards’ home in Northampton, Massachusetts. Aside from a trip to Boston during that summer, he stayed at Edwards’ house until his passing the following year. In May 1747, he received a diagnosis of incurable tuberculosis. In a diary entry dated September 24, Brainerd expressed, ‘In the greatest distress that ever I endured, I had an uncommon kind of hiccough, which either strangled me or threw me into a straining to vomit.’ During this period, he was cared for by Jerusha Edwards, the seventeen-year-old daughter of Jonathan. Their friendship deepened, and “many speculate that there was profound (even romantic) affection between them.” He succumbed to tuberculosis on October 9, 1747, at the age of 29. Jerusha passed away in February 1748 after contracting tuberculosis while nursing Brainerd. David Brainerd | Hero Of Faith
David Brainerd | Hero Of Faith Following his death, his younger brother, John Brainerd, took over his work.
Impact on the church and mission Inspiring Christian missionaries
He garnered a small number of followers but gained widespread recognition in the 1800s due to publications about him. His journal was released in two sections in 1746 by the Scottish Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. A significant portion of Brainerd’s impact on later generations can be linked to the biography authored by Jonathan Edwards, which was first published in 1749 under the title An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend Mr. David Brainerd. It achieved immediate acclaim, with the eighteenth-century theologian John Wesley recommending, ‘Let every preacher read carefully over the Life of David Brainerd.’ From the eighteenth century onward, missionaries drew both inspiration and encouragement from this biography. Gideon Hawley, during difficult times, noted, ‘I need, greatly need, something more than humane [human or natural] to support me. I read my Bible and Mr. Brainerd’s Life, the only books I brought with me, and from them have a little support. Other missionaries who have acknowledged the impact of Jonathan Edwards’s biography of Brainerd on their lives comprise Henry Martyn, William Carey, Jim Elliot, and Adoniram Judson. David Brainerd | Hero Of Faith.